And The Universe Is Cheering
by Indra
Summary: Not even Jedi always see the whole picture. - Vignette


Disclaimer: The characters belong to me, the universe they are living in and the Jedi belong to George Lucas. No infringement intended.

I know that OC-stories are not much read. But if you read this, please take a moment and review. I will be eternally grateful and I really want to know what you think of this, no matter what it is. 

And The Universe Is Cheering

Life on the planet of Trethar was hard. It was a planet that took everything and gave nothing in return. D'liyan had known that all his life. He had known it as a child because his father and mother were away every day to feed him and his sister, he had known it as a youth because he had stopped going to school much too early and he had known it as an adult, because his parents had never lived to see their grandchildren being born.

The house he now lived in with his wife and three children was small and old. It was the same house he had grown up in as had his father before him and his grandfather before that. The stone by now was porous, the wood rotten and the clay that held it all together so degraded that when it rained the water came through in too many places to stop it."

D'liyan's oldest daughter had just left school at the age of ten. By now she could read, write and calculate enough to trade goods and not be cheated. It would have to be enough. The youngest had just started her classes, learning what the government wanted her to learn and not what was true. Not that D'liyan would ever say as much out loud, not even in his own home. It was exactly the sort of thing that had cost his parents their lives at only forty years of age.

The way to his small field and the few stalls that kept his family alive was a familiar one and just as familiar was the bowed figure of Rasol in the dark, who left his house at the same time as D'liyan and who would meet him on the path every day.

"Morning, Rasol." 

The other nodded to him and they walked for a while without speaking. After a few minutes, without looking at D'liyan, Rasol said, "You heard about those Jedi coming in?"

D'liyan uttered a confirmative sound. Yes, he'd heard about them. Lisha had told them yesterday at supper after work, telling them with all the enthusiasm of a six-year-old that she had seen them in their brown robes, tall and imposing. D'liyan had warned her not to get too near, that they had no business with people from the Core-worlds. She had nodded gravely, her eyes wide, noting the seriousness of his order and they had proceeded to talk of other things.

"Here to witness some ceremony, Paro heard."

D'liyan snorted at Rasol's words. "Paro hears too much."

They continued on in silence, only nodding at each other briefly before their paths split up and they both disappeared in the darkness of the early morning.

It was the sixth day of the cycle which meant that he had to go into town and would not see his children before they went to bed. It was dark by the time he left the farm and headed for Brulta territory, his old horse pulling the cart behind them. D'liyan didn't dare to sit on the cart, hoping to preserve the animal's strength. It took them three hours to reach the town hall, where they lined up with the other farmers. Several heads nodded at D'liyan and he nodded grimly back.

It took another two hours until it was his turn.

"Name?" The man behind the dark wooden desk in front of the small one-room building didn't look up as he addressed D'liyan.

"D'liyan Wrassel."

The man searched briefly on the list lying before him. "Two hundred pounds of corn, three hundred pounds of earth rujas, one hundred fifty eggs."

"It's on the cart." Two men came forward, took the goods, weighed them and carried them into the shed next to the hall.

The man behind the desk made a cross on his paper. "Next!"

It took D'liyan only an hour and a half to get home without the goods.

Sh'rila was still awake when he entered the house after locking the stalls and feeding the horse. She sat at the small kitchen table, the only lamp casting shadows on her face and her tightly clasped hands. She looked up when D'liyan entered and he saw immediately that something had happened.

"Was someone here?" he asked anxiously.

She shook her head. "Lisha was right. There are Jedi on the planet. Two of them. I saw them today." 

D'liyan turned around, hanging up his battered coat and said in a gruff voice, "It has nothing to do with us."

Sh'rila suddenly stood up, crossed the room and clasped his arm. "But it does, D'liyan. What if they came here to help the Shroma? What if they know about us?"

D'liyan felt hope well up in him and despite his resolve not to take any interest, he found himself asking, "Where did you see them?"

"At the Brulta market. I saw them from afar."

The hope died as quickly as it had come. "Then they won't help us. If they knew, they would have been at our market."

"But what if they just wanted to see…"

"No, Sh'rila! They didn't. And they never will. Now stop talking about them. Think of my parents. Think of your mother. Do you want our children to become orphans as well?"

She shrank back from him, averting her eyes and for a moment she seemed near tears. But D'liyan knew better. Sh'rila had seen too much in her life to still be able to cry.

"There's supper on the stove. I'll go to bed."

He grunted in confirmation, staring at the floor, waiting until the bedroom door had closed, before sitting down to eat.

It turned out that Paro had been right for once. When D'liyan went into town on the sixth day of the next cycle, he saw the left-over banners from the ceremony and the newspapers of the same week lying in the streets, before they were swept up by workers. The Republic's Award for Peace had gone to the government of Trethar for a strong economy, good education of its children and health and prosperity for its people.

He didn't pick the newspaper up, but led his horse past it, pretending not to notice.

D'liyan pushed his hands deep into his coat to ward off the freezing air of the early morning when he left the house. After a few meters he met up with Rasol.

"Morning, Rasol."

A quick movement of the bowed head was his answer.

After a few minutes, Rasol said, "You heard that Riesa's horse died?" 

D'liyan blew a breath into the cold air. "Mm."

At their fields, they parted with a nod.


End file.
